Tuesday, July 28, 2009

CNN President Stands With Lou Dobbs

It's not Headline News that Lou Dobbs has a credibility problem as a journalist. He's long used his show on CNN as a platform to advance conspiracy theories. This particular gem is just one example:

“The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans,” Mr. Dobbs said on his April 14, 2005, program. From there, he introduced his original report that mentioned leprosy, the flesh-destroying disease — technically known as Hansen’s disease — that has inspired fear for centuries.

According to a woman CNN identified as a medical lawyer named Dr. Madeleine Cosman, leprosy was on the march. As Ms. Romans, the CNN correspondent, relayed: “There were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years.”

“Incredible,” Mr. Dobbs replied.

Even more incredible is CNN's President, Jonathan Klein, endorsing Lou Dobbs this week after he jumped head first into the Birther Movement swamp, going so far as to label Rachel Maddow a "tea-bagging queen" today after she called out his insanity:

In response to CNN's continued support of conspiracy theorists like Dobbs, Media Matters released the following statement:

"It appears that Jon Klein stands alone as Lou Dobbs' sole defender in the birther battle. Even Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter have jumped ship," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "How long will CNN allow Dobbs to devote airtime to a laughable conspiracy theory that even the most right-wing of media figures think is irresponsible?"

There's a petition that has gathered over 15,000 signatures calling for CNN to restore some form of credibility over their programs (I know, I know...). It can be found at DobbsConspiracy.com and offers this video roundup of Birthers being given traditional media attention:

As I tweeted yesterday, it'll be highly ironic if Lou Dobbs' career gets a signed death certificate as a result of questioning President Obama's birth certificate. Stay tuned.